Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
1. Description of Background Information
Electrical connector housings are traditionally used for connecting or branching wire harnesses to electrical equipment in automobiles. Such an electrical connector housing is disclosed, e.g. in a Japanese Patent Application published under the number HEI 7-241020.
In this example, the electrical connector housing includes an upper-half shell and a lower-half shell which, when closed, define an inner space. In the inner space, there are commonly provided a printed circuit board, a bus bar circuit and an electronic component. The electronic component is mounted on one face of the printed circuit board. The electronic component may include a plurality of lead terminals. These lead terminals are led into through-holes provided in the printed circuit board, and project from the other face (back face) of the printed circuit board. These lead terminals include short-sized terminals which may be electrically connected to the conductor patterns formed on the printed circuit board. The back face of the printed circuit board is mounted with a bus bar circuit consisting of a plurality of bus bars, the bus bar circuit being arranged in laminations. The lead terminals also include longer-sized terminals which may be electrically connected to the bus bars.
When an electronic component requires a high level of electric current, as is the case with a relay, its size tends to become large as a function of the electric current level. Moreover, a lead terminal connecting the electronic component to a power supply source is usually made wide so as to lower resistance. As a result, the printed circuit board must be provided with a correspondingly large through-hole, commensurate with the lead terminal, for connection with the electrical power source. The printed circuit board thus tends to yield unusable space. For instance, such a structure may reduce the areas for mounting other unitary parts or equipment, and leave less room for wiring. Moreover, the large-size electronic component itself covers a large portion of the surface of printed circuit board, and thus takes away a considerable part of the usable space. As a matter of fact, the above-described kind of large-size printed circuit board is still used in the prior art technology. As a consequence, an electrical connector housing containing such a printed circuit board has a cumbersome structure.
2. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector housing containing at least one printed circuit board, at least one bus bar circuit and at least one electronic component.
In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector housing which is less prone to take up usable space on the printed circuit board.
To this end, there is provided an electrical connector housing containing at least one printed circuit board including at least one conductor pattern, bus bar circuitry including at least one bus bar, and at least one electronic component including a main component unit and a plurality of lead terminals extending therefrom. The printed circuit board and the bus bar circuitry are arranged side by side on a plane, and at least one of the plurality of lead terminals is electrically connected to the at least one conductor pattern, while at least one of the plurality of lead terminals is electrically connected to the at least one bus bar.
Typically, the at least one electronic component may comprise a power component including a main component unit and a plurality of lead terminals extending therefrom. The plurality of lead terminals include at least one lead terminal having a wide gauge and being adapted to connect to an electrical supply source. The power component is then arranged on a plane other than the plane on which the printed circuit board and the bus bar circuitry are placed. Further, the printed circuit board is defined by an outer side-rim. The whole structure is configured such that a major portion of the main component unit of the power component extends sideways from the outer side-rim of the printed circuit board
Advantageously, the at least one of the plurality of lead terminals is bonded directly to the at least one conductor pattern and the at least one bus bar by soldering.
According to a first embodiment of the invention, bus bar circuitry including a plurality of bus bars is arranged side by side with a printed circuit board on the same plane therewith. Accordingly, even if an electronic component including wide-sized lead terminals is employed, these lead terminals can be connected to the bus bars without passing through through-holes. It is therefore no longer necessary to specifically perforate wide-gauged through-holes in the printed circuit board so as to enable the wide-sized lead terminals to pass therethrough. As a result, the printed circuit board is able to reserve more usable space. This thereby avoids reducing areas that can be used for other equipment, and secures room for free-wiring operations.
According to a second embodiment of the invention, an electronic component used is typically a power component. A major portion of the power component is then mounted sideways, extending from the outer rim of the printed circuit board. In this manner, the power component no longer covers a large surface of the printed circuit board, so that the unusable space of the latter is reduced.
According to a third embodiment of the invention, each of the lead terminals is directly bonded to a corresponding conductor pattern or bus bar by soldering. This type of connection process obviates the need for relay terminals normally required for electrical connections. The bonding process thus reduces the number of unitary parts used, and simplifies the structure of the electrical connector housing.